Argo AI Partners With Ford and Lyft to Commercialize Large-Scale Autonomous Ridesharing
Serena Aburahma
· 3 min read
Safety concerns are a big factor for people wary of
accepting self-driving vehicles
. Luckily Ford, Lyft, and Argo AI are joining together to bring safe autonomous ridesharing
into the lives of average Americans. While the first two companies might seem familiar, Argo is one that most might not have heard of. 
What does Argo AI do?
Argo AI
is a company that develops self-driving tech with the hope that its technology will help everyday people and society as a whole. Argo AI’s bold dive into ridesharing with both Lyft and Ford aims to make streets safer and less congested. The company’s ridesharing involvement is the first step of many to deal with apparent and underlying issues that could be resolved with autonomous driving technology.
1,000 cars in 5 years
TechCrunch
tells us before this joint venture, Lyft had already been dabbling with incorporating autonomous cars into its ridesharing service. Lyft’s partnership with the other two companies shows that there’s a plan in motion as they aim to roll out 1,000 cars in 5 years. Argo AI, Lyft, and Ford look at this as an opportunity to provide low-cost, easily accessible, safe transportation to cities.
MORE: All About Self-Driving Cars
Safety remains a top priority for Ford, Argo AI, and Lyft
During this rollout process, the priority of these companies is to make sure that riders, pedestrians, etc. are safe. As these cars are rolled out in both Miami and Austin, the first step in this process is to have safety drivers in the vehicle with the passenger.
To further ensure safety, Lyft will share the driving data it already collects with Argo AI. This data will allow Argo AI to improve on, and maybe even eliminate, any safety issues occurring with the human drivers of ridesharing apps.
Is self-driving ridesharing safe?
The pros and cons of self-driving cars are pretty even.
Self-driving cars could prevent a lot of accidents caused by human error or negligence. With autonomous vehicles, time can be managed efficiently and could in turn reduce traffic in cities.
In cities where people have limited or no access to transportation, autonomous vehicles can even make it easier and more affordable for people to get where they need to go.
On the other hand, there’s always the primary concern of the car malfunctioning. There’s also something to be said about having another human being in the car with a passenger.
If a passenger suddenly had a medical emergency or was in a particularly unsafe situation, having a driver there could be greatly beneficial to the passenger.
While consumer safety concerns are valid, the pros far outweigh the cons. Human drivers cause so many avoidable accidents by texting and driving, drunk driving, running red lights, and generally not paying attention.
Serious injuries, deaths, and damages are much less likely to occur in an autonomous vehicle. On top of that, in order to alleviate any concerns, Argo AI, Ford, and Lyft have multiple measures in place to ensure the safety of passengers, pedestrians, etc.
With the combined resources of each of these companies, the vision of a Jetson’s-style future doesn’t seem so far-fetched.
